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Thursday, July 15, 2010

It’s a GOODe Life: Bean Breakin’ –N- Freezin’

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My little monkey surprised me tonight.
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I grabbed her for some quick pics of bean snappin’ and she in turn showed me that she can snap beans like a pro! Mommy score.
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Anyone who freezes or cans beans knows how much work goes into all that snappin’.

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Miss Add is a quick little snapper and LOVES the bean snappin’ game ;)

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I just heart that I now have an unexpected snappin’ partner :)

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Reminds me of breakin’ beans with my grandma...

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When I was little, I can even remember breaking fake “beans” in the fall with Grandma.



We would pick up sticks from the yard and sit on the front porch  and break them up – pretending they were beans ;)

Anyhoo, we will be canning Add’s mess of beans tomorrow, but we froze a batch a couple weeks ago that turned out quite nice.

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Yummo!

I have a feelin’ this month’s FREEZE-O-RAMA is going to be limited to grill marinades and garden canning and freezing… And that is a GOODe thing in my book :) I just heart summer.  

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I started out with several slices of bacon and one chopped onion (per stock pot of beans).
Note: The trained eye will see both real bacon and turkey bacon in the pot. My friends Katie and Heather don’t recommend turkey bacon… but I ran out of the GOODe stuff and had to use my turkey bacon… which means that I now have to come out of the closet and admit to liking ;)
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Anyhoo… while my inferior bacon was cooking, I rinsed my freshly snapped beans in the sink.

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Once my bacon and onions were mostly cooked up, I tossed in enough beans to fill the pot about 3/4 the way full.

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I then added enough water to cover my beans.

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I then tossed in the matching amount of chicken bouillon powder to the amount of water added. (1 tsp. per cup of water)
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Then a tad bit of Kosher salt and plenty of fresh cracked black pepper.

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Put a lid on it and cooked the beans for a couple hours until they were almost super tender… since I was planning on freezing these I didn’t want to overcook them before hand.

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Heavenly.

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I bagged up this mess and made sure to get all of the air out of my bags. They froze very nicely. We have already defrosted and ate one of these and they reheated to taste as GOODe as the originals :)

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Up next… figuring out what to do with these puppies and canning my next mess of beans.
Did I mention that I heart summer (and our garden)?




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8 GOODe Thoughts:

I love wholesome and homemade...and that huge stockpile of potatoes. YUM!!!

We used to have a summer supper of green beans and boiled potatoes.

Cheers,
Laura

I don't see how turkey bacon will even work with those beans. I should NOT be such a skeptic! I'm sure you won't taste a difference and it will have 1/2 the calories!

Hi Cris,

I love snapping beans because I find that they give a particularly satisfying snap! It’s great that you daughter is so enthusiastic about helping you out in the kitchen, especially since kids who pitch in making meals develop important skills, such as teamwork, following directions, math, and even fine motor skills. That’s why I work for The Kids Cook Monday, a new program started by the Healthy Monday campaigns to encourage families to cook and eat meals together. To learn more about the benefits of kids helping out in the kitchen, check out our website at http://www.healthymonday.org/the-kids-cook-monday/

We’re looking for families to take on the challenge of cooking meals together each week and sharing their experiences on their blogs. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email me at TheKidsCookMonday@gmail.com. Thanks!

Mayo

Love the adorable pics of your daughter snapping beans!!! And also love the brilliant green of the beans. I just checked mine tonight in the garden. It looks like I'll be eating fresh beans this weekend and freezing all next week! I still have canned beans from last year.

This is great. When my brother and sister and I used to snap beans, we used to sneak half the batch and eat them. uncooked beans are still my favorites. :)

Hi Cris,

I love snapping beans because I find that they give a particularly satisfying snap! It’s great that you daughter is so enthusiastic about helping you out in the kitchen, especially since kids who pitch in making meals develop important skills, such as teamwork, following directions, math, and even fine motor skills. That’s why I work for The Kids Cook Monday, a new program started by the Healthy Monday campaigns to encourage families to cook and eat meals together. To learn more about the benefits of kids helping out in the kitchen, check out our website at http://www.healthymonday.org/the-kids-cook-monday/

We’re looking for families to take on the challenge of cooking meals together each week and sharing their experiences on their blogs. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email me at TheKidsCookMonday@gmail.com. Thanks!

Mayo

Yes! Snappin' beans with Grandma is a treasured memories of so many of us...thanks for reminding us AND for linking this recipe up. Have you sent it in yet for Farmstand? You should! :)

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